As part of its mission to make the economy stronger and the financial system more stable, the New York Fed processes cash notes for banks, runs trillions of dollars in electronic bank payments annually, and auctions trillions more in U.S. Treasury notes each year.
To protect these and its other critical operations, the New York Fed has a dedicated police force, the Law Enforcement Unit (LEU).
The 100-plus officers on the LEU team safeguard the people, property, and premises of the New York Fed in Lower Manhattan and its cash operations center in East Rutherford, N.J.
Each site operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and each presents unique challenges for officers. The high-security East Rutherford center processes cash for the Federal Reserve’s Second District. The New York headquarters houses the largest gold vault in the world, storing gold for other central banks and official account holders in a well-protected space 80 feet below street level.
From an officer’s perspective, each New York Fed location is a city unto itself, making an LEU job a true community policing role.
“This isn’t a job where you’re busting down doors or jumping off rooftops,” said David Gross, the head of the Law Enforcement Unit. “This is a job where you’re a critical player on the team ensuring the safety and soundness of our economic and financial systems.”
New LEU cadets study and drill during an intense 10-week long academy, taking courses taught by current LEU officers. Each year’s class bonds as a team as they learn skills such as de-escalation, explosives detection, surveillance and counter-surveillance, emergency medical response, crisis intervention, and crime scene control and prevention.
“I think it’s really cool that the instructors we have here are the same people we’re going to see on post,” said Officer Isaiah Calderon, a member of the 2025 academy class.
All New York Fed employees are invited to the ceremony honoring each year’s graduating academy class. Graduates join the New York Fed as Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officers, part of a nationally recognized category that includes Supreme Court of the United States Police and U.S. Mint Police. LEU officers were given this designation by federal legislation passed soon after September 11, 2001, when the protection officers at New York Fed headquarters, just blocks from Ground Zero, pulled dazed and ash-covered people off the street and into the safety of the building.
On the job, LEU officers screen thousands of vehicles transporting cash and coin, perform hundreds of enhanced background checks, and manage the complex security systems at New York Fed buildings.
Their duties include safeguarding every New York Fed entrance, making LEU officers the first colleagues other employees see on their way into work and the last colleagues they see on their way out.
“To see the look on people’s faces when saying good morning—everyone’s happy to see you,” says Officer Ramon Alvarez. “There’s a pride to wearing this uniform.”
Applications for the 2026 Law Enforcement Unit Academy are currently open and close October 6, 2025. Learn more.
Ellen Simon is a corporate communications specialist in the Communications and Outreach Group at the New York Fed.
The views expressed in this article are those of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the New York Fed or the Federal Reserve System.
